This invention relates to an oil reclaimer and more particularly to an apparatus for removing the impurities from lubricating oil.
Oil reclaimers have been previously patented with the apparatus thereof designed to cause the volatile contaminants in lubricating oil to be removed therefrom by vaporization. One type of oil reclaimer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,885 and the instant invention is a significant improvement thereover. In the oil reclaimer of the above-identified patent, the lubricating oil is passed through a filter and moved upwardly through a plurality of capillary tubes so that a heating element may heat the oil to cause the volatile contaminants to remove therefrom by vaporization. However, the heating element of the prior art device objectionably heats the components of the oil reclaimer which results in a substantial heat loss thereby reducing the overall efficiency of the apparatus since a limited amount of electrical current is available to the apparatus. Additionally, it is extremely difficult to manually position the components in the device of the prior art and it is believed that the oil is not properly filtered and reclaimed.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved oil reclaimer.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an oil reclaimer including means for facilitating the positioning of the components within the reclaimer container.
A further object of the invention is to provide an oil reclaimer having means for preventing the heater from objectionably transferring heat to other components of the device.
A further object of the invention is to provide an oil reclaimer having a novel means for "trapping" the oil while heating the same to more efficiently remove volatile contaminants therein.
A further object of the invention is to provide an oil reclaimer having means therein for compressing the oil filter so that more efficient filtering is achieved.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an oil reclaimer which is economical to manufacture, durable in use and refined in appearance.